Race Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Race - Essay Example Beliefs surrounding this concept maintained that this chain was created by God and was very close to God in terms of perfection. This paper will seek to bring out issues regarding race which range from its history to current views. It will also give an insight as to whether there is need to replace the term â€Å"race† with something else like â€Å"ethnicity†. The etymology of the word â€Å"race† indicates that the term means common descent. Intellectual analysis on the book opines that the Europeans sought to define the term race at the Age of Enlightenment as a biological concept. However, as time went by, scholars tried to define and classify race into types, origins, and correlations (Spiller 45). Concerted efforts by Ember, Peregrine, and Ember show that biomedical researchers, as well as forensic anthropologists, collected and analyzed information on populations and individuals and established that race denotes distinctions which are scientifically practi cal (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine 97). In view of Hippocrates and many other thinkers, factors like climate and geography held a very significant place in shaping the physical appearance of different people. Ideally, the 19th century naturalists made attempts that changed race from taxonomy into a biological concept using anthropometrics. ... time, social conservatives exacerbated their belief and maintained that certain races portrayed innate inferiority after examining their shortcomings. A number of scientists claimed that they could determine the race of certain population or an individual by evaluating the subject’s DNA or genes. On the other end, the largest number of scientists understood that race was a social construct. These scientists believed that certain phonotypical expressions of individuals were useful in determining their race (Napolitano 128). Language, culture, and environment also played a primary role in shaping the behavioral characteristics of an individual and they were of great importance in determining the race of that individual (Ember, Ember, & Peregrine 112). The current views expressed by different people regarding race are different and overwhelming. The authors of this book mention that publications based on race as the subject receive uncomfortable facts, especially with reference t o race differences and intelligence. Academic research point out that, as of today, many people including intellectuals and mainstream journalists become highly emotional when they come across race related debates (Todorova 26). This means that many historic events revolving around race are always rather disappointing. Other archival resources reveal that different authors, co-authors, and liberals, as well as conservatives, admit that the subject of intelligence and race should hedge out, disqualified, and rendered meaningless. Black multiculturalists describe white people as mean and cold by ascertaining that they like manipulating things. On the other side, the same multiculturalists paint black people as empathetic because they entertain love. This difference in IQ colors the existing views